


patience is a virtue

by perennials



Series: the hormonal high schooler's guide to falling in love [3]
Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, warning for slight cursing lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 15:42:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7112128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perennials/pseuds/perennials
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>But you are so very beautiful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	patience is a virtue

**Author's Note:**

> there is no coherent timeline but this definitely takes place before like children and distraction, and killua's not yet student council president, so y'all keep that in mind i guess

"I'm not amazing," Killua mutters.

 

"But you are?" Gon phrases his reply like a question, tilts his head to the side.

 

Running his tongue over the top his teeth, Killua catches residual scraps of today’s lunch, withered clumps of food stuck like taffy to his gums. He bends further over his notes, throwing an arm over the page in an attempt to keep Gon's prying gaze away.

 

_Enzymes follow a lock-and-key model where the substrate binds—_

 

"I don't understand?"

 

_—to the ~~too close too close too close~~ active site of the enzyme to form an— _

 

"I think you're pretty amazing."

 

_—ender bender substrate sub-tape submerge at the verge nose-bridge eye-shine nickel penny dime silver gold gold gold—_

 

Killua lets his head fall onto the desk with a loud thump. His cheeks are so hot he can feel his skin melting off like wet cement sliding down pavement and his thoughts are a mess, but through the haze of embarrassment he forces himself to respond. "We've been deskmates for _two months_."

 

"And those two months have been the most fun I've had in a while." Gon's face cracks into a smile. The evening's cascade of light powders the tips of his hair carnation-red, transitioning into fiery gold as he leans into Killua, sliding forward until his fingertips are grazing Killua's wrist and his face is mere centimeters from the other's.

 

"Fun, you say."

 

"It's never boring when you're around."

 

"Only because you get so much out of fucking with me." Killua gives up on biomolecular structures and amino acid formation altogether and pushes himself away from ~~Gon~~ his desk, arms flopping to his sides like soggy noodles and head turned away with a huff. The skin around his wrist is tingling, not that it's a matter worth noticing. Vehemently Killua reminds himself that every social circle has a resident ball of sunshine that tries to burn everyone to the ground; the aforementioned ball of sunshine is exactly who he's talking to right now, and suns shine quite naturally, so whatever this guy's saying right now is generic bullshit that doesn't mean anything to him.

 

"I'm not fucking with you, it's called being friendly." Gon's mouth twists into a childish pout, both at Killua's critical declaration of animosity and at the obvious distance he's put between them.

 

"Friendly, huh." There's a clump of students gathered on the first-floor landing, and Killua watches them exchange pleasant banter with a wisp of wistfulness. It's not the idea of engaging yet another gaggle of starry-eyed students that interests him, but rather the prospect of being away from this overly enthusiastic idiot that's shamelessly lacking in self-awareness. Killua sighs and flicks his gaze skywards. "Would you consider us friends, then."

 

Gon pulls out the chair from the next desk and plops down comfortably, folding his arms across the backrest and resting his chin in the small dip formed in the middle. He grins cheerfully. "Course."

 

The ceiling is littered with a plethora of fault lines that run haphazardly across the corn-yellow ceiling, intersection points so numerous that Killua loses count after the thirtieth, thirty-first train interchange. "I don't consider you a friend," he divulges, honesty ringing a low note in his throat.

 

Gon's eyes go dark for an instant (not that Killua notices this) before glazing over like candied apples. "That's okay," he chirps, "I don't really want to be your friend anyway."

 

"Hah?" Briefly unsettled by this unexpected development, Killua rolls his head back onto his neck and frowns at Gon. He reaches across the table for a ball-point pen (an object of familiarity), but Gon catches his wrist in a grip that's surprisingly firm and holds it in place.

 

"Explain."

 

The sun never actually stops shining— it merely shifts out of view, spinning on the world's axis across a different plane until it vanishes out of sight for the time being. Gon, Killua realizes, is highly reminiscent of the sun; he's always smiling, even when he's not. The set of his lips maintains a playful quality regardless of whether his mouth is curved or flatlined, and this holds true now, when the look in his eyes is serious, yet the faintest hint of a smile lurks on his face.

 

"Well." Gon takes Killua's hand in his, presses his thumbs along the inside of his wrist as if it is a beloved flute and he is the sentimental musician. "I wanna be something more than that."

 

"Sworn enemies?" Killua narrows his eyes at Gon, but the other boy is either too engrossed in his quiet exploration of Killua's wrist or pretends not to notice.

 

"I dunno. Maybe."

 

"...are you serious?"

 

"Nope."

 

With a strange, muted kind of delicacy Gon turns his hand over and presses his lips to pale, pale skin. He hums quietly, mouth warm against Killua's hand.

 

"...wanna go out with you, maybe," he muses aloud.

 

Killua chokes, not for the first time, because Killua is always choking over things like trying to stuff too much chocolate into his mouth in one go, or accidentally leaving his five kilograms' worth of class notes at home, or forgetting to breathe when Gon stares at him for too long in math class and the purely absentminded gesture sends butterflies scattering like sea foam through his stomach. When he's regained control of himself he jerks his hand free and stands up abruptly in his seat, an arm thrown over his face to hide the ugly red tint of his cheeks.

 

"My hand isn't clean," he informs Gon stiffly.

 

"Neither are your thoughts, it seems," Gon observes with an easy smile.

 

Killua deigns to reply, simply grabs his notes and shoves them into his bag, zips it up in one fluid motion, and slings it over his shoulder.

 

“You really are amazing, you know.” He freezes, silhouette catching like wildfire in the glow of the setting sun. _And beautiful_ , Gon adds silently.

 

“And you’re insane.”

 

If Gon notices the way Killua’s hand is still trembling like a fall leaf when he exits the classroom, he doesn’t show it.

 

//

 

“So, how’d it go,” Kurapika asks, more out of obligation than genuine curiosity. Gon slides into the seat next to him, wincing when he comes into contact with the slightly rain-dampened plastic.

 

“Great.” A rare moment of sarcasm for the normally affable, jovial teenager.

 

He claps Gon sympathetically over the shoulder. “Give it some time. His sort is tough to crack, but once you’ve broken the surface, it’s all smooth going.”

 

“If you say so,” Gon mumbles. An image of Killua, barely-suppressed embarrassment coloring his face and blinking furiously from under a curtain of silver lashes flashes across his mind; instantly the weight on his back lessens considerably.

 

“Patience is a virtue,” he says with renewed conviction.

 

“Patience is a virtue,” Kurapika agrees.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> what the FUC is conventional consistent characterization  
> we're on june break which means i can write a lot more shit i'm sorry for posting so damn much lmao, anyway, that's a shitton of killugon i've written in the past month i Hope (hopefully, yes, with lots of hope) to tackle a leopika in the next work in this series that should be quite fun. if you have any requests for scenarios or suggestions/ideas for pairings/character interactions hmu on tamble @ corpsentry buddy. this high school au thing is a totally self-indulgent kind of word-vomit creation in which my goal is to basically explore every high school romance fic trope and cliche setting in the world so i hope it brings you folks at least some amusement or something idk  
> anyway, thanks for readin as always. leave a kudo or a comment if ya like it or somethin i dunno u do you man
> 
> have a good one


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